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Evanston's Julian Sims is about to undergo a bone marrow transplant to help treat a rare form of leukemia, but before he heads off to the hospital, he received a special treat. (Published Thursday, Jan 30, 2014)

Updated at 2:13 PM CDT on Monday, Feb 10, 2014

Evanston's Julian Sims is about to undergo a bone marrow transplant to help treat a rare form of leukemia, but before he heads off to the hospital, he received a special treat.

Evanston police and firefighters arranged an official motorcade for the 10-year-old boy, and presented him with an array of gifts to help make his long hospital stay more tolerable.

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"It was very neat. I didn't expect this," Julian said.

"I was in on it and I thought it would be a couple of people maybe, and then everybody swooped in," Julian's dad, Richard Sims said.

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Julian will be quarantined for more than a month, so items like a brand new Xbox will come in handy.

"It's going to be pretty cool to be in the hospital and still be able to talk to my friends," Julian said.

The officers and firefighters only had a couple of days to collect donations and buy gifts, but still managed to collect almost $5,000 worth of goodies.

"We wanted to wish Julian luck and let him know he had our support, and we wanted to do it in a big way," Evanston police officer Heidi Bernhardt said.

"We have a phrase in the Honor Guard that says, 'Whatever it takes,' and we made sure whatever it takes to get this done," Evanston Fire Department Capt. Jeff Boetto said.

"I didn't expect is to be this big and this beautiful and this touching ... it warms my heart," Julian's mother, Romy Sims said.